Prieuré de Salles-Arbuissonnas et son cloître roman

Salles-Arbuissonnas-en-Beaujolais

In 960, the lord of Beaujeu gave lands on which a Benedictine priory was established, dependent on the abbot of Cluny. In the mid-12th century, the monks raised the church and a Romanesque cloister — the only one of that period preserved in the Beaujolais — of which an elegant gallery with slender columns survives, the other three having been demolished at the Revolution. At the start of the 14th century, some thirty Benedictine nuns, driven by floods from their monastery of Grelonges, replaced the monks. The community gradually evolved into a worldly institution reserved for the daughters of the nobility: in 1779, its members officially received the singular title of "canoness-countesses", a rank held independently of family or marriage. By then they were living in private houses around the cloister, one of which today houses the town hall. The 15th-century chapter house preserves frescoes of the Annunciation, a Pietà and the Cluniac saints Odo and Odilo. The chapter was dissolved in 1790; the last prioress, Madame de Ruffey, who tried to recover her property, died in prison. The parish church keeps a 16th-century pulpit and 17th-century stalls, and the Priory museum tells the story of this millennium of history.

Getting there : Village centre of Salles-Arbuissonnas-en-Beaujolais (69460), between Villefranche-sur-Saône and Beaujeu on the D35/D49; parking in the village, free admission to the church, cloister and Priory museum open to visitors (information from the town hall / Villefranche conurbation).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound